Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili today opened yet another Patriot youth camp in Upper Abkhazia. The complex of the "camp of peace" was built on the premises of the old Soviet camp Apkhazeti. Some 160 young Patriots are currently staying at the camp and President Saakashvili is spending his summer holiday with them. Today he met with the patriots and played table tennis. Afterwards, he delivered a speech which focussed primarily on Georgia's separatist conflicts. Saakashvili said young people were key to solving these problems.

"Today we have completed a large project. We will implement many more such projects in the future as well. Georgia restored its jurisdiction over the Kodori and Chkhalta Gorges and the Chuberi and Marokhi passes not through violence and through settling scores with someone, but rather through building hospitals roads, cinemas and discotheques.

"Our peaceful policy is a policy of youth camps, a policy of cinemas, civilization, education, and electricity, a policy which rejects the logic of violence and arms. These things are the essence of Georgia's policy. By pursuing this policy we are showing the world how exceptional we are. We will respond to being bombed by building hospitals, schools and roads. We will drown out the sound of their helicopters with our new hit songs, with our dancing, with our friendly relations and with our optimism.

"You are our leading detachment. This is a camp of peace. The function of this camp is not to prove something to someone, not to create problems. This is a camp which clearly shows that there exists a youthful energy to counter all manner of violence," President Saakashvili said.

Communications Office
of the President of Georgia